More than 8,000 motorists a year caught driving with broken rear lights

Have you noticed a lot of offenders?

IF YOU’VE noticed a lot of cars being driven with broken rear lights, you’re not alone — so have the police.

New data obtained under a Freedom of Information request from 29 UK police forces reveals that 8,323 fixed penalty notices and roadside prohibition notices were issued to drivers for having a broken tail light between November 1, 2016 and October 31, 2017.

A fixed penalty notice involves a fine (£50 in the case of “lighting offences” such as a broken rear light) and, in most cases, penalty points too, which are issued on the spot or through the post, whereas a Roadside Prohibition Notice means the police can prohibit further use of the vehicle until the fault has been rectified.

More fixed penalty notices than Roadside Prohibition Notices were issued, according to the data.

The biggest offenders were drivers in West Yorkshire, where 3,727 fines over the time period. This is followed by Norfolk Constabulary which gave out 631 and North Wales police with 587.

Dominic Whitecross of Nationwide Cars, the car sales website that obtained the data, said: “It’s interesting to see how many people are getting caught when it comes to the simplest of car issues. Making sure you have a working back light on your car is probably one of the easier car maintenance issues to resolve.”